SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam, Innovators in Sharing Services (VIDEO)

When it began in 2011, one of the primary goals for SUNY in sharing services was to provide collaborative services to multiple campuses where campuses had either performed the service independently or the service had not existed before. Over our 64 campuses, SUNY started looking at how it spent money on things like paper and computers, and what valuable services exist on what campuses like printing, addressing veterans’ needs, or food service. But what does that mean for students?

By redirecting resources from administrative and non-instructional functions, SUNY is working to enhance the core academic and student service missions of the campuses. Through these activities, SUNY endeavors to redirect over 100 million dollars to academic and student support services over three years.

At its first-year anniversary last fall, SUNY celebrated a big milestone – within one year, SUNY campuses were able to redirect more than $6 million into academic instruction and student support services. Of that total, $2.5 million came from 6 institutions alone – Cobleskill and Delhi, Morrisville and SUNYIT, and Canton and Potsdam.

As the system continues to move forward with in sharing services, the partnership between SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Canton has been recognized by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), awarding the campuses the 2013 Innovation Award. The award acknowledges the campus’ achievements under the leadership of Vice President for Business Affairs and Administration, Natalie Higley.

Ms. Higley has served these campuses for a year and has helped the two campuses save nearly a million dollars in collective services. This includes:

$534,400 in personnel costs;

$150,000 in annual savings for replacement of residential and office furniture by creating a shared Upholstery Shop;

$224,000 in avoided costs due to rolling out a joint Environmental Health & Safety program;

$20,000 cost savings by consolidating the centralized printing services and

$24,500 in administrative costs by rolling out a joint Procurement Card program.

Ms. Higley chatted with Generation SUNY’s Emily and Samantha about Shared Services, what her role is, and where it’s going: